Candeal, J. C.; Chichilnisky, G.; Induráin, E. Topological aggregation of preferences: the case of a continuum of agents. (English) Zbl 0886.90009 Soc. Choice Welfare 14, No. 2, 333-343 (1997). Summary: This paper studies the topological approach to social choice theory initiated by G. Chichilnisky (1980), extending it to the case of a continuum of agents. The social choice rules are continuous anonymous maps defined on preference spaces which respect unanimity. We establish that a social choice rule exists for a continuum of agents if and only if the space of preferences is contractible. We provide also a topological characterization of such rules as generalized means or mathematical expectations of individual preferences. Cited in 5 Documents MSC: 91B14 Social choice Keywords:topological approach; continuum of agents PDFBibTeX XMLCite \textit{J. C. Candeal} et al., Soc. Choice Welfare 14, No. 2, 333--343 (1997; Zbl 0886.90009) Full Text: DOI